Concept2 noise levels

February 19, 2020 6:30 PM

I want a Concept2. However, it will be used in my garage that is underneath one living space and adjacent to another. How obnoxious sounding is the Concept2? I use the ones at my gym but the gym is a terrible environment for gauging noise levels.

What I want to avoid is not being able to use my rower because the noise is noticeable. The garage walls are insulated and the apartments are fairly sound proofed for their age. If you have a Concept2, would you hate it if you lived above or adjacent to the room you use it in?

posted by apex_ to Health & Fitness (11 answers total)

I had one, it's got a decently loud WHOOSH WHOOSH sound, repetitive in nature and usually only lasts for, what, an hour max? If you were doing it while I was sleeping I might be able to hear you and would mind but during the day in a different room, I don't feel like it would be super noticeable. It would be louder if you were on the floor above someone, I'd think.
posted by jessamyn at 6:58 PM on February 19, 2020

My husband uses one in the basement of our elderly house. I can barely hear it if he's using it with the door closed, and his exertion-related grunts are much louder than the Concept2 itself.
posted by juliapangolin at 7:26 PM on February 19, 2020

I have one that gets used in an upstairs carpeted room. With the door closed, you can still hear the wooshing elsewhere in the house, but not terribly loudly. It's quiet enough that it doesn't bother me, but it can be heard and it's repetitive and maybe that could annoy someone—certainly at night or early morning.

I think it would mitigate the sound really well in an insulated garage to hang some stuff on the walls, put a rug on the floor, and turn on a cheap box fan when you row.

On preview: Yes! No one ever comments on my rower fan, only my grunting!
posted by cyclopticgaze at 7:29 PM on February 19, 2020

I mostly agree with the above, but rowing doesn't make me grunt.

My downstairs neighbors told me they could hear mine when I asked, but it's not a big issue as long as I'm not using it at weird hours.
posted by ktkt at 7:53 PM on February 19, 2020

We have them at my gym, and there have been times I've used it when it was unusually quiet, and they really don't make much noise. I can imagine if you were on a wood floor on a second floor it would be noticeable to whoever was below it, but I doubt anyone would even know you're using it if you're in a garage.
posted by jonathanhughes at 8:53 PM on February 19, 2020

Yeah, you'll be fine. Run a box fan if you're worried.
posted by meaty shoe puppet at 9:09 PM on February 19, 2020

An alternative you could consider is a WaterRower - they're very good and make an extremely pleasant sloshing water sound which isn't loud at all.
posted by Acheman at 1:48 AM on February 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

My neighbors (above me) have never mentioned it. Sound translates through floors, downward by direct transmission. For the sound to get into the above neighbors through the air would take much more sound than the rower makes.

Also if you’re not grunting in agony with every stroke (for the full hour) are you even rowing? (I kid! I kid! I do the grunt thing and surprise myself with it and when I find I am doing that, back off a little. Interval training means intervals when you’re not doing grunt-worthy exertion)
posted by From Bklyn at 2:24 AM on February 20, 2020

I think it sounds loud in the room but doesn’t carry much — it’s a fan noise, not the kind of deep vibration that really goes through walls and floors.
posted by LizardBreath at 3:19 AM on February 20, 2020

I live in a house full of rowers. They're not terribly loud. The rhythmic wooshy sound on the stroke is about it. It's quieter than someone pounding away on a treadmill.
posted by jquinby at 6:26 AM on February 20, 2020

I'm in a house so can't speak for neighbors. It's much less loud and annoying than a treadmill. I think you would be okay but wouldn't want to use it late at night or too early if people were sleeping above it.
posted by jclarkin at 6:49 AM on February 20, 2020